Puck handling is an important aspect of the game of hockey. Proficient puck-handling allows a hockey player to outmaneuver opponents while in control of the puck and to prevent an opponent from taking possession of the puck. Proficient puck-handling also helps hockey players to make better passes to teammates and to deliver better shots.
Because puck-handling is such an important part of the game of hockey, training exercises focusing on this aspect of the game have been performed since the game originated. A typical puck-handling training exercise, for example, consists of a player moving a puck quickly in a pre-determined pattern in front of the player. In teaching this training exercise, coaches frequently instruct their players to imagine the desired puck path on the playing surface, and to move the puck along that imaginary path, or alternatively place cones or some other device on the playing surface to define the desired path and then instruct the player moves the puck around the cones.
While these types of exercises are important and beneficial to developing puck-handling skills, they do not teach the player the specific skills associated with moving a puck around an opposing player. An important aspect of puck-handling skills is the ability to maneuver a puck around or through an opposing player. To establish one-on-one individual play competence, a hockey player must learn to maintain control of a puck while skating past an opposing player. The technique of moving the puck past an opposing player is often called `attacking-the-triangle`. The triangle referred to is defined by imaginary lines connecting a defending player's two skates and his or her stick. A puck-handling player approaching an opponent has three basic options for bringing the puck around or through the opponent, as illustrated in FIG. 1. The puck-handler can take the puck swiftly around the left or right side of the opponent's skates and stick, the puck-handler can fake one way and then move the puck between the heel of the opponent's stick and in front of the toes of the opponent's skates and then shift to pick up the puck and continue on around the opponent on either side, or the puck handler can move the puck between the opponent's skates and around the defender on either side. Supplementing these three basic options, a player can use a combination of other fakes and maneuvers to beat the defensive player. The concept of attacking the triangle provides a concrete focus to assist the novice in learning this basic puck-handling skill.
Heretofore, teaching the technique of attacking the triangle typically required two hockey players, the puck handler and the defensive opponent. This teaching method is inefficient for instructing novice hockey players because it requires a second hockey player to act as an opponent to the player developing skills in attacking the triangle. If an unskilled player participates in the role of `opponent` then poor movement or stick placement by such novice may negate much of the benefit of the exercise to the puck handler. On the other hand, if a skilled player or coach acts as the opponent it is an inefficient use of one-on-one instruction for this skill. Because puck handling is a skill that requires a lot of practice and repetition, it would be advantageous if most or all of the repetition drills could be performed alone by the individual learning the skill, without enlisting the help of a second player or coach.
Another disadvantage of attempting to learn this puck-handling skill with another player is that, when practicing or playing against a live person, novice hockey players and children in particular, tend to focus on the body of the opponent. Learning the skills required to attack the triangle requires that the player focus on the stick and skates of an opponent. Therefore, it is a disadvantage to have a live opponent, player or coach, because it distracts the attention of the student from the triangle formed by the skates and hockey stick of the opponent. It is also more difficult to acquire these skills against a live player because the novice is generally forced to deal with not only a moving puck but also a moving `triangle`. It would be beneficial to the novice hockey player to have a stationary, or a more predictably movable, `opponent` to initially practice these skills against.